The Invitation

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Evil Organization
Full Name	The Invitation
Alias	"Family" and "New Era"
Origin	The Invitation
Foundation	Dr. Joseph in mid 2010s
Headquarters	Sonora, Mexico
Commanders	Dr. Joseph (leader)
Agents	Eden David Sadie Pruitt Thousands of unknown cult members
Powers / Skills	Psychological Manipulation Mind control Access to poison
Goals	Acquire eternal fullness.
Crimes	Brainwashing Murder by proxy Encouragement of self-harm
Type of Villains	Cultic Assassins

The Invitation is a cult that serves as the titular villainous group in the independent 2015 horror/thriller film The Invitation.

The group has a stated purpose of helping victims who have suffered tragedies overcome their grief using spiritual philosophy. However, the group's methods turn out to be far darker than any mere therapy. Whether the group had sinister motives from its inception or had developed into a cult over time is not clear.

Biography

Background

The self-help group was created in Sonora, Mexico by Dr. Joseph. Its original intention was to eliminate the anguish that destroys the emotional state of people who have suffered tragic times in their lives, such as losing a loved one or suffering from an incurable disease.

Dr. Joseph comforts with spirit elements a follower who is dying, which is base concept of the cult.

Dr. Joseph, leader of the group, defends the idea that this grief can be transcended through adopting the New Age principles of The Invitation, a spiritually organized set of beliefs that aim to remove fear of death and trauma. There’s not a lot of clarity in these principles, but some presented pleasant language into semi-coherent religious platitudes.

Like any persuasive religious sect, the people in The Invitation have some sound logic and pertinent points behind their ideology: deny the physical and embrace the spiritual, and this line of logic, if you follow it properly, leads to death as shown in the movie. Doctor Joseph, with his years of studying the human brain and its connection to the trauma, conveyed a new insight into how to re-write cruel sensations. He explains that what we feel is physical, and is part of a complex mix of chemicals, hormones, brain and nervous system responses and a million other things.

The cult, dubbed "Family" by the followers, gained a lot of attention in its place of origin, spreading to other parts of North America, such as Los Angeles and New York, winning thousands of new devotees. Later, Joseph realizes that if the physical is unimportant, and if you believe in a better world beyond the world we experience, death is the logical solution to life's problems.

Role

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The Invitation

Friends gather for the Eden and David meeting.

The role of cult in the unfolding of the film initially is not very well addressed. It is known that Eden ended up losing her son by an accident on the day of him birthday, she suffered so much for that she ended up trying to commit suicide. With no other alternatives, she decided to join a high-help group in Mexico, entitled "The Invitation". There, she meets David, in whom she initiates a relationship.

The cult begins a brainwashing its followers to solve the problem with pain, instructing them to follow a routine of good feelings involving spiritist consciousness (in which there is something waiting for us in the afterlife). One day, after two years away from her friends, Eden and David, now engaged, invite close colleagues to a dinner. The day for this meeting is later revealed as the date chosen by the worship organizer, Dr. Joseph, for the purification of his devotees.

David talks to his guests about the cult.

The guests are Will (Eden's ex-husband who divorced her as they attempted to deal with the accidental death of their young son Ty), Will's new wife Kira, Tommy, Tommy's boyfriend Miguel, and friends Ben, Claire, and Gina. Gina mentions that their other friend Choi is running late. Eden introduces Sadie, a girl she and David met while in Mexico who now stays with them.

Throughout the evening, Will wanders his former home alone and relives memories related to Ty's death, including Eden's attempted suicide. In the kitchen, Will witnesses Eden slap Ben when he makes a joke about her New Age ideas on expelling pain. Eden and David's mysterious friend Pruitt arrives. Will notices that David locked the front door. Will later goes for firewood and spies Eden hide a pill bottle through her bedroom window.

The Meeting

Eden and her friends over dinner.

David and Eden tell their guests about a group they joined along with Pruitt and Sadie called "The Invitation" to work through grief using spiritual philosophy. David shows everyone a video in which group leader Dr. Joseph comforts a terminally ill woman as she takes her last breaths. David turns away unseen visitors and explains they were strangers looking for a party nearby.

After the group plays a game, Claire begins to feel uncomfortable with the strange atmosphere of the house, and decides to leave the place. David stops an unsettled Claire from leaving, making Will think David is keeping the guests inside. David changes his mind, and Claire leaves, accompanied by Pruitt, whose car is blocking Claire's. Will watches Pruitt take Claire out of sight to talk to her, and David confronts Will about his suspicion.

Will expresses satisfaction at what's happening.

While walking through a hallway, Will sees Sadie make odd faces into a mirror, and they have a strange poolside conversation, during which she sexually propositions him. After rejecting her, Will finally gets a cell phone signal and finds a voice mail from Choi indicating that he was at Eden and David's doorstep before the other guests. Presuming that David and Eden must have done something to Choi, Will publicly confronts the couple about their apparent cult brainwashing. Choi enters unexpectedly, explaining that he was called away by work. Will is embarrassed, but the others assume his residual grief over Ty’s death is causing Will to behave irrationally.

Finding his son's room has been renovated and turned into an office, Will finds a laptop with an ominous video from the founder of The Invitation. In the video, the founder says he has discovered a "new truth," that tonight something must be done for everyone to be rewarded, leaving Will confused and suspicious.

The Dinner

A discussion begins.

Then Pruitt calls Will upstairs, for there will be a toast to commemorate the gathering of friends. David pours drinks for the guests. Will smashes the glasses, fearing they are poisoned. However, Gina drinks hers before Will smashes it. Sadie attacks Will who inadvertently knocks her unconscious in the scuffle. Gina suddenly collapses and dies, revealing that Will was right about the drinks. David, Eden, and Pruitt attack the guests, killing Miguel, Choi, and Ben. Will, Kira, and Tommy flee and hide in the house.

Feeling regret over the violence of the killings, Eden is comforted by David, who assures her that what they are doing is the only way they can leave the earth and be freed from their pain. Will retrieves a fireplace poker from Sadie while she lies dying from apparently drinking the poison. Pruitt finds and attacks Will and Kira, but together the couple manage to overpower him and beat him to death.

Red lanterns scattered in the neighborhood, showing the cult's expansion.

Eden shoots Will in the shoulder, and herself in the stomach, severely wounding herself. David attacks Tommy, but Tommy stabs David to death. As she dies, Eden asks Will to come to her in her final moments and to take her to the backyard. Kira, Will, and Tommy reunite and head outside with the dying Eden. Tommy goes back inside for Miguel's body. Kira and Will see helicopters flying above. As they watch, Will sees various homes with the same red lantern that David lit earlier in the evening.

Will realizes that Los Angeles is erupting in chaos as other cult members throughout the city carry out plans similar to David and Eden's. The two hold hands as the sound of sirens continues.

Gallery

Eden (Tammy Blanchard) entered the cult after the accidental death of his son Ty, and her attempted suicide. Eden, after the revelation of the group's goal, tries to assassinate Will and Kira, but gives up and kills herself.

David (Michiel Huisman) was addicted to drugs and had no real purpose in life, but he found it when he entered the cult. In the end, David shoots Miguel and tries to kill Tommy, but is stabbed by him.

Sadie (Lindsay Burdge) is a strange friend that Eden and David met in Mexico. It is unknown about their past before entering the cult, but it is observable that she is the most eccentric of all. She tries to kill Tommy, Will and Kira by stabbing, but is fatally wounded by them.

Pruitt (John Lynch) entered in the cult after being arrested for years when he killed his wife, banging her on the head. He kills Choi and Ben with a gun, and possibly Claire after she leaves the party with her car. Pruitt is killed by Kira, with his head crushed.

Dr. Joseph (Toby Huss) is the creator of the cult. He is responsible for brainwashing, leading his thousands of followers to mercilessly murder their close friends and family for the good of the faction.